The Third Dimension

se Levertov’s “The Third Dimension” speaks of tragedy and loss, most likely of a loved one. It speaks of the fighting emotions of living and dying, happiness and grief – struggling through life with an obvious emptiness.

“Who’d believe me if I said, ‘They took and split me open from scalp to crotch, and still I’m alive, and walk around pleased with the sun and all the words bounty’.”

The death of a loved one caused the person speaking to feel as though they were split open and gutted. A mental image of this is a hunter gutting a dead animal. The author is saying that the death of a loved one feels as though they are ripped apart like a dead man, and yet they still live; they still walk around in the sun “and all the world’s bounty”.

“Honesty isn’t so simple: a simple honesty is nothing but a lie.”

Emotions are not simple after tragedy. They are tangled up; they are messy. They are confused. If a person tries to put it into words simply, they do not tell all of the truth.

“Don’t the trees hide the wind between their leaves and speak in whispers?”

This is a metaphor for what happens after the loss. Different emotions and thoughts are always hidden, speaking only in whispers. Grief is pushed down, maybe to come out as a harsh wind later. Emotions are not simple. Honesty during this time is not simple.

This is because:

“The third dimension hides itself.”

“If the roadmen crack stones, the stones are stones:

but love cracked me open and I’m alive to tell the tale…”

Inanimate objects cracked open and ripped apart are still inanimate objects. They are neither alive nor dead. Humans cracked open and ripped apart from grief, on the other hand, feel as though they are dead, while also feeling very much alive.

“…and I’m alive to tell the tale – but not honestly:

the words change it.”

They are living while the person is gone. They physically can tell what they are experiencing. However, as stated before, emotions are tangled up and messy. It is impossible to put everything into words. Words that someone attempts to say changes what actually happened, because it is impossible to say exactly what happened. Loss causes everything to feel like an ocean of emotion and numbness and grief and anger washing over you. How can a person put an ocean into words? Words that attempt to do this change the tale.

“Let it be – here in the sweet sun – a fiction, while I breathe and change pace.”

Words can make the situation sound better than it is. The author is saying: let it be. Let the story make it sound better. Let the story change the truth. Breathing and changing pace gives the feeling that they are going through the motions.  The author is saying that he/she will simply live and let the story be while they heal.

**all quotes from “The Third Dimension” in The American Tradition in Literature pg 1488-1489

The Lovers of the Poor

“The Lovers of the Poor” by Gwendolyn Brooks is an ironic, sarcastic title. This poem is about rich women who give to the poor to make themselves look good. They never get too dirty and never stay too long. They do not give thinking of others, but themselves; they do not give out of love. We see this throughout the poem.

The first stanza describe the women that are “lovers of the poor”. They are fearful of the poverty, according to line six, and are described as “full, sleek, tender-clad, fit, fiftyish, a-glow…” These women care about appearances.

They give money to those that they believe deserve it; to the “worthy” poor. Brooks wording shows the thought processes of the women with her questions and pauses. For example, she says, “Perhaps just not too swarthy? Perhaps just not too dirty nor too dim Nor – passionate” (The American Tradition in Literature 1463). It shows their hesitancy to the situation.

The next paragraph describes how awful the poor’s situation is. The women simply cannot handle it. Again, Brooks writes how someone would read the poem. She uses italics, commas, and explanation marks to make her points. She makes the point that the poor’s things are dirty and old – repulsive to the “kind” older women.

The poem goes on to talk about how awful the life of the poor is. The women end up walking out quickly without touching anything. Their love is no love at all.

The message of this poem is that true love is sacrificial. It doesn’t always look good; it doesn’t always feel good; it doesn’t always show you off. On the contrary, true love stoops into the lives of the dirty and poor, worthy or not, and gets dirty themselves. It is reprimanding the upper class and bringing light to the lifestyle of the lower class.

Learn from the mistakes of these lovers. Lose your identity and sacrificially love.

In the Waiting Room

“In the waiting room” by Elizabeth Bishop is about a realization of how big the world is. Bishop was sitting in the waiting room of a dentist’s office with her Aunt Consuelo. This poem just on appearance is describing pages that Bishop sees in National Geographic, a magazine that had articles about people and places around the world. The poem states that she has fear, but does not explain why. Digging into the poem a little deeper, though, one can see that she is first taken aback and awed by different cultures. It is as if she has culture shock from sitting in the waiting room.

She read first about the volcanoes, then explorers, a dead man on a pole, and babies whose heads were pointed because string had been wrapped around it. The image that caused the most fear for Bishop were the breasts of the naked women. This is because it caused the most culture shock for the young girl. I know when I was younger and I saw pictures like these, the first pictures would appall me and make my heart hurt for the people, but the ones like the naked women from other cultures would cause my stomach to turn over as well. In fact, I would feel a little dirty for seeing it. But then my heart would hurt, too, because… that’s normal for them? These mixtures of feelings and culture shock felt like fear. This is what I believe Bishop was experiencing – probably even more than me because the world was not connected much yet. In other words, there was not media and transportation to easily connect one part of the world to another. This magazine was new.

She pictured her aunt and herself falling through space as she was reading this. It seemed that she felt she was tumbling throughout the world being able to see the pictures. She was astounded by the pictures, but felt a connection through the physical similarities of the people. She was beginning to overcome the culture shock.

Then she was back in the present day, having had culture shock without even moving from the waiting room.

Babylon Revisited

“Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a fascinating story with many themes. It is about an American man named Charlie Wales. He recently returned to Paris after the stock market crash of 1929. He had previously been in Paris with his deceased wife and had a past of major partying. Charlie is back now attempting to regain custody of his daughter, Honoria, who is staying with his wife’s sister and her family. Marion, his wife’s sister, is very angry with Charlie and does not want Honoria to live with him. He almost convinces her to allow the custody of his daughter when old partying friends show up at their house. The story ends by going to the Ritz bar where he has his one-drink-a-day and sadly begins to plan what he can do before he gets his daughter back.

The first theme seen in this story is that the past shapes the present. The memory of it is unable to be escaped. No matter how much Charlie tries to convince Lincoln and Marion that he has changed, they cannot forget what he had done before. Not only can they not forget the memory, but his past follows him. For example, Charlie’s old friends show up a few times in the story. They cannot be escaped and change Charlie’s present – he could not take his daughter.

The second theme is transformation. This is almost the same as the first. Throughout the story, Charlie is attempting to turn his life around. His past follows him, but he is experiencing some transformation. For example, his loss of money caused him to rethink his decisions. He no longer parties and will only allow himself to have one drink a day. He also cut off all of his old friends. The difference between the first theme and the second is that Charlie himself is beginning to transform; the outside world is what has not.

The third theme is family. In his past is his wife. In his present is his daughter and his wife’s family. His life as told in the story has always been centered around family – whether he was making good decisions at that point in his life or not. Even greater than the theme of family, though, is the theme of paternal love. Fitzgerald shows the readers that the love of fathers and daughters is pure. For example, Charlie had gone to America for many months. When he came back, though, his daughter still wanted to live with him, be with him, and call him Daddy. This love is also contrasted to the marital love. Charlie and Helen fought; they abused each other; Helen kissed other men; Lincoln and Marion have financial and familial difficulties. However, Honoria and Charlie have a love for each other that is unadulterated. Paternal love is the greatest kind of love.

The past, transformation, and family are all themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited”.

Reaper

Toomer’s “Reaper” reflected the Modernists concepts of that time. Modernist literature was popular from roughly the 1910’s to the 1960’s. It was based on the industrialization and globalization in that time. Usually, modernist writing took a negative outlook on these changes. It caused people of that time to question what humanity was coming to – it saw a decline in civilization. Today, we see technology as beneficial; the next form of technology is received with excitement. At that time, however, Modernists only saw technology as cold machinery. They believed that it “alienated the individual and led to loneliness”. Much of this negative writing was done speaking of the inner self and continuing the use of stream of consciousness. It also used irony, satire, and many comparisons. Many say “this can all add up to feel like the story is going no where” (“What are the characteristics…”) This negative aspect of the new technology of the time period is clearly seen in this story.

“Black reapers with the sound of steel on stones

Are sharpening scythes. I see them place the hones

In their hip-pockets as a thing that's done,

And start their silent swinging, one by one.

Black horses drive a mower through the weeds,

And there, a field rat, startled, squealing bleeds,

His belly close to ground. I see the blade,

Blood-stained, continue cutting weeds and shade.” (The American Tradition in Literature 1132)

The Modernist writing is seen even the title of Toomer’s work. This is because it contrasts black reapers, the humans harvesting by hand, and machinery, compared to a Grim Reaper. A reaper can mean a machine used for harvest, a person who reaps, or Grip Reaper. “Grim Reaper” is recognized to the cloaked figure of death. The Modernist theme of death by industrialization begins in the title and continues throughout the poem.

Just as the title contrasts labor from machinery, so the rest of the poem does also. For example, the sharpening scythes aid in harvest, but can hang from the reapers’ sides without damaging them. However, the machinery murders animals, leaving them bleeding and lifeless, without noticing. The machinery simply continues.

The can also be connected to the feeling of loneliness. There are no people working together; only the black horses driving the mower. In fact, instead of the people sharing life together, the mower reduced life. The mower is connected to the feeling of loneliness.

Toomer reflects the Modernist viewpoint by making comparisons/contrasts, a negative view of industrialization, and loneliness. Even his title portrays his main point of the types of reapers: the men who reap and the deathly Grim Reapers.

Works Cited:

"What are characteristics of Modernist literature, fiction in particular?"

     CliffNotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

     <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/cliffsnotes/history/

     what-are-characteristics-of-modernist-literature-fiction-in-particular>.